10.13: Interstate Highway System and Edge Cities

Interstate Highway System

The other important Federal program that sped forward suburbanization after World War II was the Interstate Highway System. The construction of a national network of high-speed roadways was originally intended to help the US military convoy troops and equipment rapidly in time of war. It was proven as early as 1919 that the existing highway system was grossly inadequate for the rapid deployment of forces. Additionally, President Eisenhower, who had served as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, was impressed with how the German Autobahn aided the mobility of the German armies and material. So in 1956, at the urging of Eisenhower, Congress passed the FederalAid Highway Act, which dedicated billions of dollars to upgrade America’s highway transportation. As soon as stretches of these new, high-speed freeways opened, it became clear that they would have a significant impact on the function of cities and suburbs they connected.

Figure : Los Angeles, CA - This photo of the infamous Sepulveda Pass on Interstate 405 is regularly traversed by nearly a half million cars per day, but when it opened in 1961, it was relatively free of traffic, allowing commuters in the San Fernando Valley quick access to the Los Angeles Basin, thus encouraging massive suburbanization

Most folks consider one-hour the maximum desirable commute time. This was true when people walked to work and also when they ride public transit. When the interstates were first built, they were largely free from traffic congestion. People working in the inner city soon realized they could move further from their jobs without increasing their commuting time. Some found their commute faster after moving to a distant suburb. Combined with FHA incentives, suburban housing was plentiful, cheap and convenient. As a result, entire towns, oftenwith little to no industry, began to emerge on the edges of larger cities. Suburbs without much commercial activity are sometimes called commuter towns or bedroom communities. If they are more distant from the city, beyond the suburbs, these areas are known as exurbs. The distinctions get blurry because cities and their suburbs seem to sprawl ever outward, gobbling up any undeveloped spaces on the edge of the suburbs. Exurbs become suburbs and bedroom communities grow large and begin attracting industry.

Over the years, as suburban populations exploded and women entered the workforce, the highway networks became overloaded, failing to convey commuters quickly to work in the inner city. Employers began putting offices and factories in the suburbs, much like commuters, drawn to cheap land served well by highways. Eventually, people found they didn’t need to commute to the inner city. Some people found themselves living in one suburb and driving to another; those people are known as lateral commuters. Eventually, even people living in the inner city began finding jobs in the suburbs, commuting in the opposite direction of suburban commuters. Those who commute in the opposite direction of the traditional suburban commuters are called reverse commuters. So numerous are reverse commuters in Los Angeles that on some highways (US 101, e.g.) traffic is slower flowing into the city in the evening than the traffic going away from the city!

Edge Cities

The industrialization of the suburbs, aided by affordable land, efficient highways, and an ample workforce attracted really exploded in the 1970s. Some suburban regions attracted so many employers that they emerged as significant new commercial nodes, or nuclei, competing with historic urban cores for business supremacy (see the multiple nuclei model above). Joel Garreau, a non-geographer who thinks very spatially, called these places edge cities. They are almost the opposite of bedroom communities in that edge cities have many businesses, but very few residents. Garreau defined an edge city as a location that:

1. Has at least 5 million square feet of office space

2. Has at least 600,000 square feet of retail space

3. Has more jobs than bedrooms

4. Is recognized as a vernacular place by locals, but not necessarily by outsiders

5. Did not exist in the 1960s.

Tysons Corner, Virginia is a great example of this new urban form recognized by Garreau. In the 1960s, this location was essentially rural. Today, this “census designated place” remains unincorporated with a population of only around 20,000 people. Still, it has 46 million square feet of office space, two supermassive malls, and functions as the central business hub for much of Northern Virginia. In terms of business activity, Tysons Corner ranks among the top 20 cities in the United States. All the locals know exactly where “Tysons” is, but hardly anyone outside of Northern Virginia has even heard of the place. You will pass it if you travel from Dulles Airport to Washington DC.

Figure Tysons Corner, VA – A perfect example of the suburban industrial complex, where the daytime population far exceeds the nighttime, or residential population. Source: Wikipedia